Entertainment

Yes We Cannabis, a new scripted audio comedy, is set to debut this Thursday, August 24 and it’s a story about, well, cannabis. 

“It’s a ten episode, half hour comedy narrative series on Audible that follows three Black friends as they try to create a cannabis business in Los Angeles,” director Rochée Jeffrey tells ABC Audio, noting that the trio are trying to break into a “really competitive business” that “has a lack of Black owners in the space.”

The comedy project from Audible and Broadway Video, features voices from an all-star comedy cast including Sam Richardson, Langston Kerman, Punkie Johnson, and Method Man with guest voices Rachel Dratch, Tim Meadows, Heidi Gardner and more. So how did such a notable cast come together?

“We made a list and we reached out to folks,” she said, noting that it came together over some time. “And these are the folks who responded and they were perfect for the roles.”

Jeffrey created and wrote Yes We Cannabis alongside George K. Burns, who she says is where a lot of the inspiration for the show came from. 

“George was a pharmacist and he was working a 9 to 5. And then he decided to pursue stand up comedy. And in order to sustain himself, he started working in the cannabis industry,” she explains, adding, “There was some humor in that.”

While the series is a comedy, Jeffrey wants listeners to know that “it’s a story that both, of course it’s silly, it is funny, but it has real heart.”

“So I hope that they see a story that reflects kind of the modern Black experience that’s funny and silly, but also very serious in some in some respects.”

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In a guest column in Variety, Oscar winner Octavia Spencer remembered Ron Cephas Jones, who died at 66 years old on Saturday, August 19.

Spencer called him, “one of the most skilled actors I’ve ever worked with,” adding, “To be in a scene with him, you had to be present for the emotion that would naturally come.”

Jones played Spencer’s onscreen father in the Apple TV+ series she produced called Truth Be Told, where she marveled at the work ethic of the “actor’s actor.”

She expressed, “…the fact that he took the time on a grueling, unrelenting television show schedule to build the memories and to come in with clear choices — it elevated our work in such a way that it never, ever felt like work with Ron. He never knew that I referred to him in my mind as a mailman. He always delivered.”

The This Is Us actor won two Outstanding Guest Actor Emmy trophies for playing William Hill, the biological father of fellow winner Sterling K. Brown‘s Randall Pearson, in both 2018 and 2020.

“When Ron walked on stage, no one ever had to say, ‘OK ladies and gentlemen, let’s get to work,” Spencer recalled. “He just commanded it. He was such an elder statesman.”

Octavia closed by saying, “As a producer, I was really looking for roles that would get him his Oscar. It’s devastating to think that I’m never going to have another moment where I get to sit down and just enjoy his presence.” She called Cephas Jones, “just the best at what he did.”

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On Tuesday, August 22, Netflix dropped an extended teaser trailer to Zack Snyder‘s sci-fi epic Rebel Moon, which will roll out in two parts on the streaming service.

Oscar winner Anthony Hopkins can be heard narrating the sneak peek. The legendary actor lends his unmistakable voice to Jimmy, an ancient robot played by Snyder’s Sucker Punch star Jena Malone in the saga.

“I was given memories of a world I will never see. Loyalty to a king I cannot serve, and love for a child I could not save,” Hopkins says, as an enemy starfleet invades a peaceful agrarian planet.

Kingsman star Sofia Boutella plays Kora, a mysterious resident of the moon whose history in combat is glimpsed in the trailer. “I am a child of war,” she says. “I was taught that love is a sign of weakness.”

However, when armies of a tyrannical ruling force threatens the peaceful colony, she takes up arms once again, earning her nickname, The Scargiver.

“Kora assembles a small band of warriors — outsiders, insurgents, peasants and orphans of war from different worlds who share a common need for redemption and revenge” against the regime, Netflix teases.

“As the shadow of an entire Realm bears down on the unlikeliest of moons, a battle over the fate of a galaxy is waged, and…a new army of heroes is formed,” its description continues.

Rebel Moon also stars Charlie Hunnam from Sons of Anarchy, Deadpool‘s Ed Skrein and Djimon Hounsou from Gladiator and Guardians of the Galaxy.

“The time has come,” Hounsou’s General Titus is seen rallying his rebels at the teaser’s close. “Protect each other, and show them no mercy!”

Rebel Moon: Part 1: A Child of Fire debuts December 22, while Part 2: The Scargiver premieres April 19, 2024.

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(NOTE LANGUAGE) Gracing the cover of WSJ. Magazine‘s upcoming Fall Women’s Fashion Issue, Jennifer Aniston gets real about her work ethic, her personal life and the most important lesson she took from her time on Friends.

Aniston says the decision her fellow cast members made to negotiate their salaries as one “taught us everything.” She explains, “It would’ve destroyed us, I think, if someone was soaring financially.”

Calling herself a “self-made woman,” Aniston revels in the “chick club” she’s started with her pal — and Friends little sister — Reese Witherspoon on the Apple TV series they co-produce, The Morning Show. “Being that we’re female, there’s a level of understanding, compassion and consideration that I think doesn’t always exist amongst the dudes,” she explains of their colleagues behind the camera.

Elsewhere, Jennifer notes, “There was a time in my world, my career, where I realized it’s not being aggressive or combative or b**** or emotional to stand up for what you deserve and what you want. It’s a tough muscle to build. And also be loved and respected.”

As for her much-covered romantic life, Aniston insists “my dog” is all she’s sleeping with.

She admits, “It was always a little bit difficult for me in relationships, I think, because I really was kind of alone….My parents, watching my family’s relationship, didn’t make me kind of go, ‘Oh, I can’t wait to do that.'”

“I didn’t like the idea of sacrificing who you were or what you needed, so I didn’t really know how to do that. So it was almost easier to just be kind of solo. So I didn’t have any real training in that give-and-take,”
Aniston explains. “It’s just about not being afraid to say what you need and what you want. And it’s still a challenge for me in a relationship…”

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Sienna Miller is expanding her family!

In photos obtained by People, the 41-year-old actress enjoyed a vacation in Ibiza, where she was captured in a bikini that gracefully showcased her baby bump. The Ibiza holiday follows Miller’s time in St. Tropez alongside her 26-year-old boyfriend, Oli Green.

Despite multiple sightings and the beachside reveal, Miller’s representative has not yet provided a response to PEOPLE‘s inquiry.

This will be the second child for Miller, who is already a mom to 10-year-old daughter Marlowe, whom she shares with Tom Sturridge.

Miller and Green, who also boasts a career as a model and actor, ignited speculation about their romantic involvement back in February 2022 when they were seen attending a basketball game between the New York Knicks and the Memphis Grizzlies at Madison Square Garden.

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With a video set to Kelsey Grammer singing a special version of Frasier‘s quirky theme song “Tossed Salads & Scrambled Eggs,” Paramount+ revealed on Tuesday, August 22, that the show’s anticipated return will start with a two-episode premiere on October 12.

The new show will run ten episodes, with installments dropping weekly on Thursdays.

The first two episodes will also air back to back on the CBS network on Oct. 17, beginning at 9:15 pm ET.

The video is a callback to the original’s title sequence, showing an animated line drawing of the Seattle skyline before it flows into a caricature of Grammer and the words, “No more calls, all new hang-ups.”

It also flows into a sketch of that tossed salad and scrambled eggs before becoming a mug of beer —a la Cheers — as the words, “Oh what fresh start is this?” appear.

As the song finishes, Grammer closes with, “Frasier has reentered the building,” and the new show’s logo appears, with Boston’s skyline in place of Seattle’s.

According to the streamer, the new show will see Dr. Frasier Crane returning to his old Cheers stomping grounds of Boston, “with new challenges to face, new relationships to forge and an old dream or two to finally fulfill.”

The series also stars Jack Cutmore-Scott as Frasier and Lilith’s son Freddy and Jess Salgueiro as his roommate Eve; Nicholas Lyndhurst as Frasier’s college buddy-turned university professor Alan; Toks Olagundoye as Olivia, Alan’s colleague, and Anders Keith, playing Frasier’s nephew David.

Also confirmed to appear will be original cast members Bebe Neuwirth, reprising as Frasier’s icy ex Dr. Lilith Sternin; Jane Leeves as Daphne and Peri Gilpin as Roz Doyle.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Netflix’s love for Love Is Blind knows no bounds, as the streamer has just announced three upcoming projects for the reality dating show franchise starring Nick and Vanessa Lachey.

September 1 kicks things off with the debut of season 4 of Love Is Blind: After the Altar. Netflix teases, “As the married couples raise a toast to their one-year anniversaries and the singles reflect on the past year…unexpected surprises and twists” leave some relationships “hanging in the balance. Will remaining tension be squashed? Have marriages and friendships grown together or grown apart?”

September 19 will see the debut of Netflix Stories: Love is Blind on the App Store and Google Play. It’s a “brand new interactive story game” in which “[p]layers will be able to put themselves in the pods as the newest singles on the series, and experience all of the romance in pursuit of true love and self-discovery.”

Netflix calls the game “the perfect way for Love is Blind fans to experience even more of what they love about the series.”

The interactive adventure is the perfect warm up for the September 22 launch of Love Is Blind season 5.

The fifth go-round features couples from Houston, Texas, whose search for love will span 10 episodes. Netflix notes that new episodes of Love Is Blind will roll out each Friday: Week 1 will debut episodes 1-4; Friday, September 29, will be episodes 5-7; Friday, October 6, will debut the eighth and ninth installments, and Friday, October 13, will see the finale — the wedding days for the contestants.

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The latest small-screen Star Wars show, Ahsoka, debuts Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET on Disney+. 

Centering on the title character, Rosario Dawson‘s Ahsoka Tano — the live-action version of the character that appeared in animated form in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Rebels — the new show focuses on the onetime Jedi’s attempts to stop the rise of the Empire. 

To that end, she’s looking for Grand Admiral Thrawn, the Imperial military genius who was lost in hyperspace along with young Jedi Ezra Bridger in Rebels‘ finale. Lars Mikkelsen, who voiced the blue-skinned Thrawn in Rebels, also plays him in Ahsoka; Eman Esfandi plays Ezra.

Joining Ahsoka are Rebels allies, including Mary Elizabeth Winstead as ace pilot and green-skinned Twi’lek Hera Syndulla and Natasha Liu Bordizzo as Mandalorian Sabine Wren.

But also looking for Thrawn, on an assignment from The Mandalorian villain Morgan Elsbeth (Diana Lee Inosanto), are a fallen Jedi, the late Ray Stevenson as Baylan Skoll, and his apprentice, Ivanna Sakhno‘s Shin Hati.

To Emmy Magazine, Dawson said she felt “massive … excitement” getting the role, as she “grew up playing with fake lightsabers.” 

Emmy-nominated Mandalorian costume designer Shawna Trpcic dressed the characters for Ahsoka. She recently told ABC Audio how, like the original Star Wars, they were inspired by Akira Kurosawa‘s films. “You’re going to be blown away by just the art, the action, the writing, the directing, the performances,” she teased.

She added, “We were so touched [at how much] childlike giddiness [there was] whenever a new character would come on to stage.”  

Disney is the parent company of ABC News.

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Oscar-nominated actress Annette Bening takes on the role of world-class swimmer Diana Nyad in the upcoming film Nyad. First look images reveal Bening’s transformation into the iconic athlete, capturing Nyad’s determination as she made history by swimming from Cuba to Florida at the age of 64. Directed by Meg LeFauve, the film delves into Nyad’s incredible journey and the challenges she overcame. Jodie Foster joins the cast as the swimmer’s coach and best friend Bonnie Stoll. Rhys Ifans, Ethan Jones Romero, Luke Cosgrove, Jeena Yi, and Eric T. Miller round out the cast. Nyad will hit Netflix and select theaters this fall…

Paramount+ debuted a teaser trailer for Good Burger 2, with longtime pals Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell reuniting onscreen. The sneak peek kicks off with Mitchell’s Ed crashing into Thompson’s Dexter with his car, where he lands up in the passengers seat. “The new adventures of Ed and Dex starts now!” Ed exclaims. Good Burger 2, a sequel to the 1997 original, is expected to stream on Paramount+ this fall…

As anticipation mounts for the upcoming Season 12 of American Horror Story: Delicate, a new teaser trailer was released on August 21. The teaser offers glimpses of stars like Emma Roberts, Cara Delevingne, and Kim Kardashian situated in clinical medical environments, accompanied by the recurring spider, egg, and pregnancy motifs that characterize the season. Part one of American Horror Story: Delicate is scheduled for debut on September 20, on both FX and Hulu platforms…

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Charity Lawson’s journey as The Bachelorette concluded on Monday night with an engagement to Dotun Olubeko, a 30-year-old integrative medicine specialist from Brooklyn, New York.

However, the road to an engagement was fraught with heartbreak, as she had to say goodbye to 27-year-old Joseph “Joey” Graziadei, the 27-year-old tennis pro from Lawai, Hawaii, in what was the most gut-wrenching eliminations Bachelor Nation has ever seen.

Charity’s family instantly “connected” with Joey for his “genuine” responses to their questions and the importance of family in his life. His final date with Charity left him even more confident that he would be placing a ring on her finger.

Dotun’s meeting with Charity’s parents, on the other hand, was a little rocky, with her mother noting in a confessional that his “manner” and “swag” had a similarity to type of men Charity tended to gravitate towards in the past, and ultimately broke her heart. Her mother’s comments weighed on her throughout her final date with Dotun, which he seemed to picked up on.

Needless to say, Joey was blindsided by Charity’s declaration that while their love was “special,” she’d found love that’s “deeper” with Dotun.

However, the news wasn’t all bad for Joey, who was revealed as the new Bachelor, and told host Jesse Palmer he’s looking for “someone that’s themself that can I can be truthfully be a partner with … someone that challenges me … someone that I can challenge, I want someone to do life with.”

“I just want someone to be my person and know that at the end of the day, regardless of what we face, we’re gonna be more than happy enough together,” he added.

Aaron Bryant, made a brief return after being eliminated ahead of fantasy suites, only to be sent back home by Charity, will also have another shot at love on season 9 of Bachelor in Paradise, along with Katt Izzo and Brooklyn Willie from Zach Shallcross‘ season of The Bachelor and, as previously announced Brayden Bowers from this season of The Bachelorette.

Also during Monday’s live Bachelorette season 20 finale: Charity is headed to Dancing with the Stars for the Show’s 32nd season.

Before then, The Golden Bachelor, featuring Gerry Turner, premieres Monday, September 28 at 9 p.m. ET on ABC, followed by Bachelor in Paradise season 9 to follow immediately after.

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